1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reaction column intended for the treatment of a solution in contact with a static solid component, and, subsidiarily, the method of using such a column.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Reaction columns are known through which there can be passed a liquid component, referred to as solution, to be treated in contact with a solid static component which is generally divided into grains, such as a catalyst, a resin ion exchanger, molecular sieve or the like. Generally, such columns are formed of a vertical enclosure having orifices for the passage of the solution at its upper and lower ends. Such columns can only be of small diameter in order to avoid preferential flow in the center and neutral zones which do not fail to occur as soon as the diameter of the column becomes substantial as compared with its height and the diameters of its inlet and outlet orifices. The formation of neutral zones and, correlatively, of zones of preferential flow which are generally located in the center of the column is harmful since it causes, at the outlet, heterogeneous mixtures of solutions which have undergone the action of the static component to very different extents.
Such columns have rather thick walls in order to withstand the expansion of the solid component which can take place during the course of the treatment. This expansion of the static component is generally accompanied by a deformation of its grains, resulting in their dislocation and finally in an increase in the loss of head which opposes the circulation of the flow. In order to assure a sufficient velocity of flow, it is then necessary to increase the pressure to very high levels which constitutes a second technological brake on the possibilities of increasing the diameter of the column.